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Humana (HUM) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Humana (HUM - Free Report) closed at $506.99 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.91% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.17% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.6%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.67%.

Coming into today, shares of the health insurer had lost 0.98% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 0.23%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.25%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Humana as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be April 26, 2023. In that report, analysts expect Humana to post earnings of $9.47 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 17.79%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $26.46 billion, up 10.41% from the prior-year quarter.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $28.06 per share and revenue of $103.56 billion. These totals would mark changes of +11.17% and +11.51%, respectively, from last year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Humana. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.04% higher within the past month. Humana currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Humana has a Forward P/E ratio of 17.91 right now. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.55, which means Humana is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that HUM currently has a PEG ratio of 1.26. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. HUM's industry had an average PEG ratio of 0.82 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - HMOs industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 200, putting it in the bottom 21% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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